Storage battery.



W. A. CROWDUS.

STORAGE BATTERY.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 22, I9I5.

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Patented Feb. 29

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QZ iff/90 5 W W.`A. CROWDUS.

STORAGE BATTERY.

APPLICATION FILED APR.22, 1915..

19173,@51., Patented Feb. 29,1916.

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a v 7 K+ 5% 73m 5% 2y/7 L? WALTER' A. CROWDUS, lor CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, AssICNOR rro JOHN I. MENIZER, or

' CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

STORAGE BATTERY.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 29, 1916.

Application led April 22, 1915. Serial No. 23,061.

' similarrelements, between which there is a Otential difference', and which is contained 1n a jar with the necessary liquld electrolyte held in non-flowing or absorbed condition A,in a'suitable porous medium tovrender it non-spilling. Y n U rOne object of my invention 1s to produce, as a commercial article, a secondary bat tery, in the class referred to, having an\ Original assembly of the parts forming the v.couple which will enable it to bevproduced at greatly reduced relative ost, which shall cause it to afford a vcomparatively large output of current for its weight, and to be exceptionally durable and maintain its capacity through a period as long as or longer than the most expensively constructed secondary battery of the usual plate-type assembly.

Another Objectis to provide in the sizes and forms of the ordinary zinc-carbon dry. vprimary battery, a secondary battery which,

while costing little more than such primary v battery to construct, will give' a much larger Outputv Of current than the latter and be capable of giving of much more power and of discharging continuously or intermittently at-al much higher rate of voltage and amperes. f.

These and other Objects are accomplished by the construction illustratedv in the accompanying drawing, in which :'v

Figure 1 is a view ofmy yimprovedloat.- tery showing the jar and the wax seal in vertical section, and the couple and bindingposts, contained in the jar, in elevation; Fig.

'2- is a top. plan view of the same; Fig. 3 is a plan view of the complete couple;`Fig; 4'i's an enlarged perspective view of an endssection'of one of the similar metallic elements of the couple; Fig. 5 is anv enlarged section on line 5, Fig. 4; Fig. 6 is a similar section One line 6, Fig. 4; Fig. 7 is a broken View.

in elevation Of one of the metallic elements of modified construction; Fig.l 8 is; aplan ments, 8 and`9, vof suitable flexible sheet-l metal, preferably lead, placed flatwise one upon thev other with an interposed separator 10 in theA form of thin, flexible sheets of porous material, preferably made of chemically treated and cooked wood-fibers, the whole being spirally coiled about a hollow central cor/e l1, which may be a tube of hard rubber Or` other suitable material. Each sheet 8 and 9 yis tinted, crimped Orv corrugated longitudinally, as shown, between its ends, to leave each end-section, like lthat shown at 12 in Fig.4 4 blank; and the endsection is cut away to a point short of the upper edge of the metal strip. This severed portion is folded On itself, as. shown at 13 in Figs. 4 and 5, and bent to extend at a rightangle to the folded length for carrying on the terminal-arm a threaded post, on which is screwed a thimblev and a nut to form the binding-post 14. The advantage of this plied or pasted active material, or material f to be rendered active, 15. rEhe fluted construction for thus supporting this material 1s preferred, because 1t is inexpensive to produce by machinery and affords a large eX- tent of activesurface, thereby enhancing the efficiency of the couple;.and, as will be un- Aderstood by those skilled in the art, this fluted form of the sheet-metal elements lends itself readily tothe Plante type of batterycouple. My improvement is therefore not to be .understood to be limitedin its use to either type of battery, for I Amay, for dill-'erent purposes, apply it to the paste type or to the electro-chemically formed (Plante) type. This pocket-likeconnement for the active material may also vbe provided in my coil-form of couple otherwise than by longitudinally fluting, crimpmg, or corrugating the sheets 8 and 9, and I desire to be understood as including all such manner of confinement as within my invention.

As will be understood, the material 15 is I applied to the sheets 8 and 9 before they are imposed iatwise one upon the other, with the separating sheets between them. In the' process of manufacture, immediately the opposing elements are pasted and while the applied .paste issoft and pliable, or before A it has set or hardened, they are'assembled flatwise with the separating sheets between and rolled' or wound under pressure in a v suitable machine for -producing the couple in the desired coil form and are then, in ,their assembled form, dried or aged.

The finished couple 7 ts in a jar 16, which maybe of hard rubber, and rests on a pad 17 of absorbent material (whichpmay be the same as. that of the porous separator 10), in the'cell-bottom, to which, however,

the core A11vdoes not reach, thus to provide a space 11a from which the liquid electrolyte, illed into the cell through the core,.

may be readily absorbed by the porous separator throughout the couple and thus `gain access to the material 15. The cell is sealed with a coatingof suitable wax 18 extending over the couple 7 about the upper end of the The flexible, absorbent separator `10 is an important feature of my improvement for use between the metallic pocket-forming elements 8 and 9. It is composed of ground wood-fiber, yu'heinically treated to remove the contained acids. and gums, preferably by cooking it in a caustic alkali solution; and I then-'bleach it by subjecting it to sulfurous 'acid fumes to remove any coloring foreign matter carried thereby. These fibers are incorporated in`- sheet-form, substantially in the manner of manufacturmg paper out of wood-pulp. Thischemical treatment' of the yfibers renders the separator highly resistant to carbonization by the electrolyte. The resultantfproduct is very flexible and porous and is peculiarly adapted to my purpose,

since, by reason of'its riiexibilityv and toughp ness, it rolls in continuous sheets compactly between the metallic elements inspirally coiling them, and is so highly caplllary' as to quickly absorb the -liquid electrolyte and vdistribute, it: throughout the couple. Moreover, the absorbed liquid so'swells thesepai rator. as to cor'npressfy andV cushion itfagainst the active material andfnt only holdfthe inclusive, is more desirable.

terial, l.0i material tbl be" reiidredfactre,

v:porous absorbent,serariiersiiiirnosed be- 1w 4 kthe metal composing it,fwhich.has tle advantages o f lightness'and thus yof reducing the weight of the battery to a very considerableextent.

The construction of the metallic element 8a shown in Fig. 7 differs from that of either elementy 8 or 9, as fshown in Fig. 4, in having the raised portions. of the corrugations on the opposite faces of the .elementcut away or slotted at intervals, as shown at 8b and 8c. The slots in each longitudinal series in one face of the element should be staggered relatively to those in the corresponding series in the opposite'face, as represented. f Vithout being thus slotted,A themetallicgelement yis out of proportion inthe matterofrelative weight of lead and active material. lBy-providing the slotsf..or-.openings in fthe raised portions of the 'Corrugations, aportion of the lead of eaclrgelgement isremoved and additional active material ...is substitutedj therefor in the.' receptacles;forfitg-whichethe slots afford, wherebyy the leadI .and active ,material are better` proportioned, and, besides, the advantage .is ,afforded of increasing; the

amount of active aterial in the.,l couple and;4

the capacity of the latter. f, 1

The modified; construction furtherf differs from'that shownon Sheetl ofthe drawings in providingfgterminals 13a. Inthis construction, the metallic sheetis left-blank` along its upper vportion and the leads .or terminals 13 arev cut, out at such intervalsas to cause them to coincide radially, inV a ,pair on each element, when the sheets are coiled.

Fig. 4 is more especially designed for use on lthe smaller sizes of my battery, `wherein the current capacity is likewise smaller; but-in the larger sizes, wherein the current-capacity demands a larger v cross-section of; g;

terminal, Jthe form shown in Figs. 7 t'o 10, In-this form the radially'aliningleads 13a on each metallic element enter and are burned or soldered in parallel slots 14: (Fig. 1Q) in thelower f 'part of a binding-post 14%v Onlyt'wo of these vertical leads Y are shown, buty for batteries of still larger capacity, three or more may be provided, and the slots 14h inthe binding-posts are thenincreased correspondingly. l What I claim asnewqanddesire tosecure by LettersPatent isz-- 1,

1. A storage-battery` couple comprising sheets of flexible, vporousmaterial, closely contacting' .with the @tire materiau Qrimlterial to be.. rendered active throughout Ithe surfaces metallic' rsheets provided with iactiveV ma- .cenriifisiiig tween said metallic sheets and closely contacting with said material throughout its surfaces, and a hollow core in the couple, communicating with said separators for supplying liquid to the batteryy and adapted, when the cell is being charged, to receive expelled electrolyte.

3. A storage-battery couple, comprising metallic sheets provided with active material, or material to be rendered active, porous absorbent separators interposed between said metallic sheets and closely contacting with said material throughout its surfaces, said metallic sheets and the porous absorbent separators interposed between the same being wound into a spiral, and a hollow core in the couple, communicating with said separators for supplying liquid to the battery and adapted, when the cell is being charged, to receive expelled electrolyte.

4. A storage-battery couple comprising metallic sheets each having an upper blank section with leads or terminals integral with and projecting at intervals from its edge, and interposed separator-sheets of flexible, porous material, said sheets being wound into a spiral and said leads being disposed on each metallic sheet to extend in paired radial alinementin the spiral.

5. A storage-battery couple comprising longitudinally corrugated metallic sheets, the corrugations forming pockets for the active material, or material to be rendered active, and interposed separator-sheets of flexible, porous material, the whole being wound into a spiral.

. 6. A storage-battery couple comprising longitudinally corrugated metallic sheets slotted at intervals crosswise of the corrugations, the slotted corrugations forming pockets for the active material, or material to be rendered active, Vand interposed separator-sheets of flexible,rporous material, the

whole being wound into a spiral.

ble, porous material, all of said sheets being wound into a spiral and forming a central opening in the couple, and a tubular core extending partway through said opening and forming a space in the latter at the inner end of the tubular core for liquid electrolyte.

9. A storage-battery couple comprising a pair of metallic sheets, one of-said sheets being composed of aluminum and forming the spongy-lead support, and a separator of flexible, porous material interposed between the metallic sheets, the whole being wound into a spiral.

10. A storage-battery couple comprising a pair of longitudinally corrugated metallic sheets, the corrugations forming pockets for the active material, or material to be rendered active, one of said sheets being composed of aluminum and forming the spongylead support, and a separator of flexible porous material interposed between the metallic sheets and Wound therewith into a spiral.

WALTER A. CROWDUS.

In presence of- O. C. AvIsUs, A. C. FISCHER. 

